CiviCRM Community Forums (archive)

Hello,
I just installed CiviCRM with Drupal.  It looks like a great system, especially for 2.1.  However I've run into many bugs already.  First of all, is there a better place to report them - I haven't found a bugtracker.
So for now, here's the bug. 
CiviCRM 2.04 w/ Drupal 5.7.  I'm at Home » CiviCRM » Administer CiviCRM » Custom Data.
I'm adding a custom field.  I want to ask a question: "How many volunteers has your organization involved in 2006?".  That works ok.  Now I add a field: "How many volunteers has your organization involved in 2007?" and I get a duplicate column name error.  This is because, the custom data is put into the DB as a transformation of the Field Label, specifically, the first 32 characters, with underscore substituted for space, and any illegal column name characters removed, as the field name.
This is a simple and logical way of creating a column name however, it means I get a "collision" when I ask my second question.
For users, the workaround is to make some small change to the question within the first 32 characters, however this doesn't really help, as there's no good change that I like.
Logically, the field label name should be completely freely chosen, and it is, the only problem it's used to derive an internal fieldname. 
To programmers: I might suggest adding an 8 digit random number at the end - should problistically eliminate this problem, and it's a very quick fix, which I hope can make it into 2.1!
Of course, to do this properly you need to check for duplicates and try once more.  The only real way to solve it is to have a guaranteed unique function.  Is there a way to do this without storing an ordered list?  Note to self, check The Art of Programming.

Thanks for the quick response.  I did exactly as you suggested.  I simply added a custom field, with two similiar questions.  I can confirm that the same error message occurred on your live demo system.

-----------------------------------
Constituent Information - Custom Fields

unrecoverable error
    Sorry. A non-recoverable error has occurred.

    DB Error: unknown error

    Database Error Code: Duplicate column name 'trying_to_create_a_fieldname_con', 1060

    Return to home page.

Error Details:

Array
(
    [callback] => Array
        (
           

• => CRM_Core_Error
[1] => handle
        )

   

=> -1
    [message] => DB Error: unknown error
    [mode] => 16
    [debug_info] =>         ALTER TABLE civicrm_value_1_constituent_information
        ADD COLUMN `trying_to_create_a_fieldname_con` varchar(255) [nativecode=1060 ** Duplicate column name 'trying_to_create_a_fieldname_con']
    [type] => DB_Error
    [user_info] =>         ALTER TABLE civicrm_value_1_constituent_information
        ADD COLUMN `trying_to_create_a_fieldname_con` varchar(255) [nativecode=1060 ** Duplicate column name 'trying_to_create_a_fieldname_con']
    [to_string] => [db_error: message="DB Error: unknown error" code=-1 mode=callback callback=CRM_Core_Error::handle prefix="" info="        ALTER TABLE civicrm_value_1_constituent_information
        ADD COLUMN `trying_to_create_a_fieldname_con` varchar(255) [nativecode=1060 ** Duplicate column name 'trying_to_create_a_fieldname_con']"]
)
---------------------------------
Existing field label: Trying to create a fieldname conflict in 2007
Tried to add this field label: Trying to create a fieldname conflict in 2008
resulting in above failure.

Thanks again.  Now do I enter it in the bugtracker?


Thanks.  I've confirmed on Sandbox that this error is fixed in 2.1.  However, there is another error in the same code, so don't forget where you looked and see my separate message: Bug: Custom Data Fields-Field Label Starts with Number (confirmed).